CHECK Nord #2
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SOCIETY<br />
ENGLISH<br />
As a reminder, the global market value of illicit<br />
drugs is estimated at $ 500 billion. If you are<br />
really curious about where this money ends up,<br />
have a browse through the topics menu of the<br />
UN Office On Drugs and Crime: arms smuggling,<br />
terrorism, human trafficking, poaching,<br />
cybercrime, corruption and so on. It doesn‘t<br />
take much imagination to build a direct connection<br />
between the line of coke you snort and<br />
forced prostitution of minors.<br />
HELPING DRUGS USERS IS TRICKY<br />
Advice and contact points for drug users and<br />
addicts face a particular dilemma. Most drug<br />
prevention professionals know that people<br />
don’t stop using drugs by simply telling them:<br />
”Don‘t use drugs because they‘re illegal and unhealthy“.<br />
The task is rather to convey consumption<br />
strategies and to limit individual damage<br />
in the event of drug abuse, for example in the<br />
form of safer use. Anyone who has ever been<br />
confronted with a destructive dependency in a<br />
friend or family member knows that defending<br />
public morale will not get you anywhere.<br />
Currently, any form of drug counselling and<br />
education inevitably takes place in the context<br />
of crime. So the question is how effective this<br />
work really can be. And how much positive<br />
potential goes to waste through criminalization<br />
and social ostracism of certain substances.<br />
6 FLIES DEAD AFTER 30 MINUTES<br />
In 1952, the chemist Albert van Schoor investigated<br />
the amphetamine MDMA, better known<br />
as Ecstasy. He carried out toxicological experiments<br />
with flies and noted: ”After 30 minutes,<br />
6 flies dead“. A scientific publication did not<br />
follow up on his observation.<br />
If you look around long enough, however, you<br />
will find numerous study-based writings that<br />
prove the harmfulness of MDMA and the like.<br />
Regular and excessive consumption of amphetamines<br />
attacks brain tissue. Improper use can<br />
lead to hyperthermia (overheating), which can<br />
be fatal. Cocaine consumption can have massive<br />
physical and psychological consequences,<br />
lead to immune deficiency, severe weight loss<br />
and damage to blood vessels, liver, heart and<br />
kidneys. Heroin poisoning can cause unconsciousness,<br />
breathing problems and circulatory<br />
62 <strong>CHECK</strong> NORD <strong>#2</strong><br />
failure due to the slowing of the heart. If you<br />
fall unconscious while on heroin, your reflexes<br />
are switched off, which is why there is a risk of<br />
choking on vomit.<br />
Much is being said about the dangers of illegal<br />
drugs. So why are people willing to accept those?<br />
LEGAL VS. ILLEGAL<br />
Expansion of consciousness, talking to God,<br />
finding inner peace, just getting high, enhancing<br />
sexual experiences, numbing instant<br />
pain. The list of reasons why drugs appear in<br />
almost every culture in the world is long. They<br />
even play a role in western church culture.<br />
Frankincense, for example, contains the active<br />
ingredient Incensole. It has a similar effect on<br />
wild mice as antidepressants and anxiolytics. In<br />
the resin of the frankincense species Boswellia<br />
papyrifera, Incensol and its acetate can even<br />
make up a total content of up to 10% and more.<br />
That‘s pretty potent.<br />
Millions of Christians regularly leave Sunday<br />
mass sedated through frankincense, which is<br />
then called pious. And millions of stoners are<br />
afraid of being caught intoxicated by the police.<br />
Because that‘s called criminal. But joking aside:<br />
a non-scientifically-based drug policy harbors<br />
very real dangers: for our health as well as for<br />
our society.<br />
DRUG-<strong>CHECK</strong>ING<br />
The body of a sixteen-year-old ballerina reacts<br />
differently to an ecstasy pill than the body of<br />
a forty-year-old sumo wrestler. Nevertheless,<br />
both of them buy a pill from a dealer in a club<br />
that evening and take it. Have they consulted<br />
Foto: Max Titov_unsplash.com